This is a countdown of (what I believe to be) the greatest albums ever made.

Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. Conor get it’s so perfect on this album, a great balance of upbeat and slow songs with piercing lyrics: “we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain”.

Bruce Springsteen – Born In The USA. Brucie changed direction leaning to a more pop orientated album that moved on from his darker records.

The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses. This band changed the music scene when this came out, fusing together dance, rock and pop this is the pioneering album of the ‘madchester’ scene.

Kate Bush – Directors Cut. Her latest release saw Ms. Bush revisiting The Red Shoes and The Sensual World to create one hell of an album.

Neil Young – Harvest Moon. This is the album that got me interested in Young and it sees him returning to a more acoustic sound.

Nina Simone – I Put A Spell on You. Creating over 40 albums it’s hard to choose one album but this one seems slightly more upbeat and polished than some of her other records.

The Libertines – Up The Bracket. They gave life back into a music scene that seemed happy churning out Brit Pop copy cats (I’m looking at you Coldplay) and gave a generation their voice back.

The Smiths – The Smiths. The production is flat and dreary, Morrissey’s voice is moany and the album is about child abuse, yet it all fits and works so well together.

The Strokes – Is This It. The Strokes, just like The Libertines brought life back into a repetitive music scene.

Jeff Buckley – Grace. That voice.

Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?

Pulp – Different Class

Sigur Rós – ( )

Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run

Kate Bush – Hounds of Love

Bright Eyes – Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground

Chet Baker – (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen To You

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beck – Mellow Gold

Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That Is What I Am Not

The Clash – The Clash

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Methadrone

The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin

Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Gomez – Bring It On

James Vincent McMorrow – Early In The Morning

Nirvana – Nevermind

Radiohead – The Bends

Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman

Blur – The Great Escape

Primal Scream – Screamadelica

Johnny Cash – I Walk The Line

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Leonard Cohen – Songs of Leonard Cohen

Kate Bush – Never For Ever

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy

The Beta Band – Hot Shots II

The Fall – Live At The Witch Trials

Elliott Smith – Elliott Smith

Sigur Rós – Takk…

Muse – Origins of Symmetry

Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights

Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst

David Bowie – Diamond Dogs

The Vines – Highly Evolved

Richard Hawley – Lady’s Bridge

Loudon Wainwright III – History

Bright Eyes – The People’s Key

Happy Mondays – Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Take It From The Man!

The Cure – The Head on the Door

Elliott Smith – Figure 8

Suede – Dog Man Star

Beck – Guero

Doves – The Last Broadcast

Villagers – Becoming a Jackal

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Heatmiser – Cop And Speeder

The Kinks – Kinks

Pixies – Doolittle

The Clash – London Calling

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – B.R.M.C

Ryan Adams – Gold

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell

Arcade Fire – Funeral

The Who – Tommy

Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In People

Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions

The Jam – In The City

The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request

The Dandy Warhols – Come Down

Damien Rice – O

Joy Division – Unknown Pleasure

Simon Joyner – The Cowardly Traveller Pays His Toll

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II

Built To Spill – There’s Nothing Wrong With Love

Daniel Johnston – Retired Boxer

The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

Thomas Dybdahl – Science

Radiohead – Ok Computer

Damien Rice – 9

Kasabian – Kasabian

LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

Sportfreunde Stiller – Burli

Death Cab For Cutie – We Have The Facts and We’re Voting Yes

Belle and Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap

Dead Man’s Bones – Dead Man’s Bones

The Smiths – The Queen is Dead

Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out Of This Country

The Felice Brothers – The Felice Brothers

The Subways – Young For Eternity

Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

Ray LaMontagne – Till The Sun Turns Black

The White Stripes – Elephant

The Hold Steady – The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me

Interpol – Antics

Cat Stevens – Teaser and The Firecat

Nick Drake – Pink Moon

Cage The Elephant – Thank You Happy Birthday

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

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7 Comments

kylewcdb

good list, I made a top 75 list during the summer on a forum and we share some similarities(I had I’m Wide Awake and Is This It in my top 10, The Bends as my favorite Radiohead album). You seemed to go with a lot of classic artists that I avoided because I wasn’t sure how to rate them in comparison to today’s albums(though when I revise the list I’m going to consider all full length albums), but it’s always awesome to read lists like these. solid work

rt2011

I love this list. Which isn’t to say I agree with everything on it, but I love that it’s not just a bunch of Beatles and Bob Dylan. It seems like you put a lot of thought into it, rather than just copying Rolling Stone. It’s also nice to know there is someone else out there who believes in the possibility that the best album ever WASN’T created in the ’60s.

I once tried to make a top 50 list. I spent days on it, but I don’t think I ever finished…

I know what you mean, I do get sick of knowing when I read a countdown list it will be filled with The Beatles; I also get sick of people who are also stuck in the 60’s, we have had 52 years of music since then, there was also great music played before the 60’s.

I think it would be interesting to see your top 50. It took a long time to create and there are some albums I would like to change with the release of new albums, but that will take far too much time.

Exactly! I think it’s just that so many of those lists are created by people who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s. So to them, nothing can top music from that era. In the same way, I’m partial to music from the early ’90s to today. The difference is that I don’t work for Rolling Stone…

I’ve started making my top 50 again. I think I have it down to… 103. Baby steps…

So very true. I have to admit that the 90’s was a really good decade for music and has produced some of my favourite artists, it is just a shame that i spent the early 90’s as a child, I would have loved to have grown up when The Stone Roses were playing.

It’s creepy that you’re like reading my mind… I say that same thing all the time. I wish I was a teenager in the early or mid-’90s so I could have experienced all that guitar rock when it first came out instead of having to discover it after the fact. Context is so important to me when listening to music.